Michael Brissenden presents AM Monday to Friday from 8:00am on ABC Local Radio and 7:10am on Radio National. Join Elizabeth Jackson for the Saturday edition at 8am on Local Radio and 7am on Radio National.

STEPHANIE KENNEDY: Sixty years on, their grandson and second in line to the throne, Prince William, delivered a reading.

PRINCE WILLIAM: Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God.

STEPHANIE KENNEDY: The Royal wedding in 1947 came at a time of austerity in post-war Britain, and as a friend of the couple says, it was a moment of "blissful brightness and happiness" after World War II.

Betty Foster was a seamstress who worked on the Royal wedding dress.

BETTY FOSTER: The dress was made of duchesse satin, and the silk was specially woven, and it was classic lines, and the bodice had a V, the centre, and then this beautiful skirt that really what made the dress was the embroidery, the beautiful embroidery.

It was very exciting to know that your stitches went on that dress (laughs).

STEPHANIE KENNEDY: The Australian Girl Guides provided the ingredients for the four-tier wedding cake, and there was a gift of 500 tins of pineapple from the Queensland Government.

(Sound of British National Anthem)

It's been a loyal and enduring relationship - Prince Philip always a step behind his Queen.

Lady Pamela Hicks.

PAMELA HICKS: In her job she was the important one and he was the support. In their family life, she saw to it that he absolutely remained head of the family. And he has to this day.

I mean, you know, I think there's nobody who can tell her off, excepting him, and my goodness he does, and he she is grateful for it, 'cause imagine a life spent with "yes ma'am". And if there's somebody with you who tells you exactly what he thinks, or that you've been silly, it's very refreshing and actually very helpful indeed.

STEPHANIE KENNEDY: The Royal couple is flying to Malta later today, where the young newlyweds lived while Prince Philip was stationed as a serving Royal Naval officer.

In London, this is Stephanie Kennedy for AM.

TONY EASTLEY: It's not known how long the 500 tins of pineapple lasted in the Royal larder.